Orbán is likely one of the only a few European leaders who has stored shut ties with Putin since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
He’s additionally a key ally of Mr. Trump, having constructed an in depth relationship with the president over a few years, serving to to show himself into a favourite European determine on the American proper.
President Trump shakes palms with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban throughout a gathering within the Oval Workplace on Could 13, 2019.
Mark Wilson / Getty Photographs
Mr. Trump is ready to satisfy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the White Home on Friday following a protracted cellphone name he had Thursday with Russia’s chief. “I believe great progress was made,” Mr. Trump wrote Thursday on Fact Social relating to his dialog with Putin.
The Kremlin stated in a press release Friday that Orbán had spoken with Putin on the cellphone to specific Hungary’s “readiness to provide conditions” for the upcoming summit.
The date for the Trump-Putin summit in Budapest has not been confirmed, although Mr. Trump stated Thursday that it will possible happen inside a pair weeks.
It is going to be the 2 leaders’ second bilateral assembly this yr, following in-person talks in Alaska in August.
That preliminary effort by Mr. Trump to finish the Ukraine struggle yielded no tangible outcomes. Putin has thus far declined the president’s urging to carry a three-way assembly with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the meantime, the Russian army has continued its aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities, focusing on infrastructure and killing civilians.
Earlier than his announcement on Thursday, President Trump had voiced rising frustration with Putin’s intransigence on negotiating an finish to the struggle.
“I don’t know why he continues with this war,” Mr. Trump informed reporters earlier this week in Washington. “He just doesn’t want to end that war.”
The Kremlin, in a Thursday assertion attributed to Putin aide Yury Ushakov, stated the Russian chief had given Mr. Trump throughout their cellphone name “a detailed assessment of the current situation,” which included noting that on the bottom in Russian-occupied japanese Ukraine, “the Russian Armed Forces hold full strategic initiative along the entire line of contact.”
Why Ukraine could also be dissatisfied by Hungary as a summit venue
Orbán’s authorities has usually taken an adversarial stance towards Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian trigger since Russia launched its full-scale invasion three years in the past.
Whereas Hungary is a member of each the European Union and the U.S.-led NATO alliance, Orbán has been a fierce critic of Europe’s monetary and army assist for Ukraine’s efforts to repel the Russian invasion. Hungary has halted all gross sales of weapons to Ukraine because the struggle started, and Orbán’s authorities has additionally prohibited weapons from Ukraine’s Western companions from transiting via the nation.
Earlier this week, Orbán posted a promotional video on social media declaring that “Hungary will follow its own path, protect its sovereignty, refuse to send its money to Ukraine, and remain a haven of peace. We will not pay for wars that are not ours!”
Rigidity between Orbán and Zelenskyy has escalated dramatically in latest months.
Budapest has fiercely opposed Ukraine’s bid to hitch the European Union — a transfer Kyiv sees as a significant step in defending itself towards the potential menace of future Russian aggression.
Below EU guidelines, new states can solely be admitted with the unanimous consent of all its present members.
“Hungary has no moral obligation to support Ukraine’s EU accession. No country has ever blackmailed its way into the European Union — and it won’t happen this time either,” Orbán stated earlier this month. “The EU Treaty leaves no room for ambiguity: membership is decided by the member states, unanimously.”
Kyiv has additionally accused Hungary of illegally flying drones into Ukrainian territory. In September, Ukrainian International Minister Andrii Sybiha posted a map on social media of an alleged Hungarian drone incursion with the caption: “Our Armed Forces have gathered all of the necessary evidence, and we are still waiting for Hungary to explain what this object did in our airspace.”
Orbán appeared to acknowledge the incursion late final month in an interview on a podcast produced by his far-right Fidesz occasion, whereas additionally questioning Ukraine’s independence, echoing a speaking level usually promoted by the Kremlin.
Sybiha, Ukraine’s International Minister, stated in a social media put up that Orbán’s remarks confirmed he was “intoxicated by Russian propaganda.”
Whereas Hungary has participated in imposing a number of rounds of EU sanctions towards Russia because the struggle began, Orbán has constantly referred to as for higher financial reduction for the Kremlin.
“It’s time to talk about sanctions! Did they bring the war to an end? No. Did they cripple the [Russian] economy? No. Did Europe manage to replace Russian energy from other affordable sources? No,” Orbán stated in January. “The sanctions engineered by the Brussels bureaucrats achieved one thing: they destroyed the competitiveness of the European economy.”
Budapest has defied different EU nations’ efforts to wean themselves off a years-long reliance on Russian oil and gasoline — regardless of repeated calls from each Mr. Trump and Zelenskyy to take action to squeeze Putin’s skill to fund the struggle.
Analysis from the Heart for the Research of Democracy, an impartial coverage assume tank, reveals Hungary has really elevated its reliance on Russian power over the previous three years. Hungary’s purchases of Russian crude oil elevated from 61% of its complete imports pre-invasion, to 86% in 2024, the research confirmed.
Orban is a key Trump ally
Whereas Hungary just isn’t perceived as pleasant to Ukraine, President Trump will arrive to a heat welcome in Budapest if the summit goes forward.
Orbán was the primary and solely EU chief to publicly endorse Mr. Trump’s first profitable bid for the U.S. presidency in 2016, and the 2 have had heat ties ever since.
Orbán, who in keeping with Human Rights Watch has used his occasion’s supermajority within the Hungarian parliament to undermine the independence of the nation’s judiciary, crack down on impartial media, demonize migrants and discriminate towards LGBTQ folks, was additionally effusive in praising Mr. Trump’s return to the Oval Workplace in January.
“The Trump tsunami swept through the entire world,” Orbán stated earlier this yr. “It gave back hope to the world. We are no longer suffocating in the woke sea.”
In 2022, the EU stated Hungary, below Orbán’s management, may now not be thought of a “full democracy,” calling it a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy.”
Mr. Trump has additionally prolifically praised Orbán’s strongman management, calling him “a great man and a very special person.”
